Oppose Begin, Not Israel

To the Editors of the Crimson:

On Tuesday, October 19, at 8 p.m. Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Moshe Arens will address the Kennedy School Forum. Concurrently (starting at 7:30 p.m.) there will be a vigil outside of Harvard students, faculty and employees who support an equitable and just peace in the Middle East. We wish to make very clear from the outset that this is not an anti-Israeli rally--on the contrary, it is because of our strong commitment to the secure existence of the state of Israel that we must join the over 400,000 Israelis--both Jews and Arabs--who joined the Israeli Peace Now movement (a movement led by Israeli army reserve officers) in expressing their revulsion, as loyal Israelis, to their government's role in the brutal Phalangist massacre of Palestinian civilians at the Shatila and Sabra refugee camps in Beirut.

As long-standing supporters of Israel's right to exist within secure and internationally recognized boundaries, we view the Begin and Sharon government's attempt to achieve a military solution to the Palestinian question as a grave threat to the moral fibre of Israel, to its place in the international community, and to its very future. Only negotiations, mutual recognition, and territorial compromise can guarantee Israel's future security as well as the Palestinian people's right to self-determination.

We have no illusions that the road to peace in the Middle East will be an easy one to tread. To move towards such a goal the Arab states and Palestinian spokespeople must unequivocally recognize Israel's right to a secure existence as a nation-state. In turn, Israel must be willing to trade territory for peace--and such an action, we believe, will necessitate the democratic replacement of the Begin-Sharon government.

There are those in the Harvard community who may mistrust our commitment to either the people of Israel or to the rights of the Palestinian people. Obviously, such a deeply emotional issue frequently provokes mistrust and even emotional-blindness on the part of all parties involved. But we are heartened by the courage of prominent spokespersons in the American Jewish community who have been willing to condemn the Begin-Sharon government while reiterating their unswerving support for the state of Israel.

Shortly before his death a month ago, Nachum Goldmann, the founder of the World Zionist Congress, the past president of the World Jewish Congress and a leading spokesperson for Jewish-Arab cooperation, joined other Jewish leaders in a moving call for Israeli and Palestinian reconciliation. There men knew well that when the Jewish people said "Never again" after the genocide of the Holocaust they meant not only that "Never again" would six million Jews (and, let us never forget, also six million Poles. Catholic priests, Russians, Ukranians, gypsies, and homosexuals) he systematically exterminated; but also that the Jewish people would never tolerate the oppression of any people simply because of their race, creed or color.

If two hundred members of the Israeli General Staff could sign a protest against their commander Ariel Sharon's conduct in Beirut, then we feel that the least we can do, us Jews and non-Jews committed to social justice, is make our vigorous opposition to the conduct of the Begin-Sharon government known to that government's representative. And, as citizens of the United States, which guaranteed the safety of Palestinian civilians in the Habit negotiations, we also must speak out. Please join us if you too believe in the quest for an equitable and just peace in the middle East. Joseph M. Schwartz   Thomas Canel '83   H/R Students for Peace in the Middle East